iPhone 5 Sales Up, Price Down

Consumer research company Kantar Worldpanel is reporting that the iPhone had a majority smartphone market share in the United States in the 12 week period ending November 25. The sales were, no doubt, boosted by the new iPhone 5, which became available to the public 18 days into that period.

Kantar Worldpanel notes that Android is still dominant in Europe and IDC reports that Android has a 68.3% smartphone market share worldwide. If all the numbers are correct, they would indicate that Apple's dominance in the US is atypical.

Then again, we have also seen contradictory reports, including iSuppli's report of Samsung having a 28% smartphone market share to Apple's 20%. iSuppli must have different criteria for measuring the smartphone market, as their list of the top 5 companies — Samsung, Apple, Nokia, HTC and RIM — total up only 63%. Who are the other 37%?

In recent days, Apple has also moved to allow deep discounting of iPhones through retailers. As reported by dealnews.com, Fry's Electronics is selling the 16GB iPhone 5 for $126 (with a 2 year contract), one-upping Walmart's $127. The list price is $199. Discounting a hot seller is an odd move for anyone, let alone Apple.

The Kantar report also shows Nokia's sales in Great Britain on the upswing, especially with aggressively-priced prepaid contract phones.